Female drivers are being warned by Gardai about a spike in robberies and car jacking attempts targeting them.
Female drivers are being alerted to the incidents, which often happened in quiet and isolated areas. A rising number of such incidents were reported to Gardaí last month.
In one such incident in Waterford, a woman stopped her car after she thought something had hit it. When she got out to check she was pinned against her car by an alleged thief and her handbag was stolen.